Mardi Gras parades canceled due to extreme winds: Mother Nature ‘decided not to work with us’
ABC News Illustration
(NEW ORLEANS) — Parades on Mardi Gras day have been canceled due to the dangers posed by extreme winds that could reach 60 mph in the New Orleans area on Fat Tuesday.
“The range of where we consider it dangerous and we bring in our people is around 30 to 35 mph,” Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, President Cynthia Lee Sheng said at a news conference Monday, noting that transit buses stop operating when winds reach 35 mph.
The gusty winds will be severe enough that there’s “no other choice” but to cancel Tuesday’s scheduled parades, she said.
“These are not conditions where we would invite family, including the elderly and children, to stand on our streets out in the open,” Sheng said. “These are not conditions for people to be elevated on floats, God forbid, having a float tip over and there’s people on the street just under those floats.”
The winds also bring the danger of flying debris, like tents and chairs, she said.
“I know many, many people have planned all year long for tomorrow … and I know there are many, many scheduled parties for tomorrow. But Mother Nature has just decided not to work with us,” Sheng said.
“I have to look at the safety first,” she said.
Damaging winds are the biggest threat from the severe thunderstorms expected to strike Louisiana on Tuesday, but an isolated tornado and flash flooding are also possible.
“This is disappointing for all of us,” Sheng said, adding, “We still have a lot of festivities today.”
Mardi Gras celebrations ramp up one week before the day itself, with about five days of parades across the city culminating in a final day of parades on Mardi Gras Tuesday.
(WASHINGTON) — U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon is ordering the Justice Department to respond to arguments made by President-elect Donald Trump’s former co-defendants in his classified documents case by 10 a.m. Sunday.
Cannon wants the government to address whether anything in the first volume of special counsel Jack Smith’s report, which deals with Smith’s Jan 6 investigation, bears on any aspect of Trump’s co-defendants in the classified documents case.
The judge’s order immediately followed a filing from DOJ that repeatedly argued she had no further jurisdiction to continue to weigh in on the release of the first volume of Smith’s final report after the department successfully appealed her initial injunction overnight to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
The other motions — including Trump’s co-defendants’ motion to extend Cannon’s halt of the report’s public release — have not yet been ruled upon.
Attorneys for co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira on Friday asked Cannon, who earlier this week temporarily blocked the report’s release while the matter was considered by the Eleventh Circuit, to extend her three-day restraining order prohibiting the report’s release.
The attorneys are seeking a hearing on U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland’s proposed plan to release the portion of the report covering Smith’s classified documents investigation to the ranking members and chairs of the House and Senate Judiciary committees.
If successful, the move could result in a further delay of the report’s release, potentially past Trump’s presidential inauguration on Jan. 20.
Trump pleaded not guilty in 2023 to 40 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information and took steps to thwart the government’s efforts to get the documents back. He later pleaded not guilty to separate charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election in an effort to subvert democracy and remain in power.
Both cases were dismissed following Trump’s reelection in November due to a longstanding Justice Department policy prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting president.
(EAST PALESTINE, OHIO) — Norfolk Southern and East Palestine reached a settlement over the February 2023 derailment that sent toxic chemicals into the area’s air, soil and creeks, the village said.
“The settlement provides the Village with $22 million from Norfolk Southern to be used for priorities identified by the Village in connection with the train derailment,” the village said in a statement.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
School districts prep students and families for possible mass deportations. ABC News
(SOUTH TEXAS, Texas) — President Donald Trump has threatened mass deportations of immigrants, potentially expanding the “expedited removal” program to conduct raids in neighborhoods and workplaces. This program would allow for the quick deportation of individuals who entered the U.S. without proper documentation and have been here for less than two years.
Trump has pledged to tighten immigration laws and roll back Biden-era policies that he believes have encouraged a rise in undocumented immigration.
On Monday, Trump signed executive orders enhancing operations of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in sensitive areas, expanding expedited deportations for undocumented immigrants, and aiming to end birthright citizenship.
Educators and organizers are grappling with what this means for their communities, and schools are determining the best way to support students and families.
ABC News visited a school in South Texas to meet with students and faculty preparing for the potential impacts of President Trump’s immigration policies.
While in South Texas, a student named Maria, a high school junior, shared with ABC News that she came to America from Mexico on a special visa last fall. Born and raised in Mexico, the 15-year-old lives with her grandmother, who is her legal guardian, in South Texas.
“It’s an honor for me to study here,” Maria said. “And my parents, more than anything, they did it in search of something better for me and my future…to have more opportunities and be able to speak a second language.”
When Maria first arrived, she knew very little English and was placed in a special set of classes to help integrate her into the Texas public school system.
She expressed that she misses her family in Mexico but wants to become a Spanish teacher. She must stay in America to do that, but with Trump’s plan, her goals may be cut short.
“We found out through TikTok, later on Instagram or things like that,” Maria said. “And just like in anything else, there are people who find ways to make the news entertaining…even if it’s something bad. We try to focus on the positive to drown out the negative.”
In 1982, the Supreme Court ruled that all children, regardless of immigration status, can access public education.
While students like Maria are here legally on unique accommodation, there is growing concern about the potential impact an immigration crackdown could have on educational institutions.
The boundary lines for Maria’s school district run along the U.S.-Mexico border. The debate over immigration is finding its way into the classroom, as administrators in Southern Texas believe many of their students come from mixed-status families — some in the household have documentation allowing them to legally reside in the U.S., while others do not.
“When you come to our school district, you will be asked the name, of course, and some type of identification of your child and what can we do to service your child? Our business will never be to ask ‘what is your status in this nation?'” Norma Garcia, director of multi-language at Harlingen Consolidated Independent Schools, said.
District leaders are enhancing mental health support for students and organizing informative sessions for families. These sessions will connect families with experts, such as immigration attorneys and local border patrol agents, to help address their questions and concerns.
However, not all school districts share the same outrage. In Oklahoma, the Department of Education Superintendent Ryan Walters supports the incoming administration’s push for more decisive immigration action.
He claims that the influx of non-English-speaking students has strained the education system. As a solution, he proposes a rule requiring schools to collect information about a student’s or their parent’s immigration status and then share that information with federal authorities.
“Right now, our schools are being required by the federal government to educate all those children of illegal immigrants and never ask them if they’re here legally, never ask them where they’re from,” Walters told ABC. “Never collect any of this information. And so what happens is, is we have situations where one district, we had over 100 students a week that came in in the middle of the school year that we believe are illegal immigrants.”
Oklahoma is suing the former Biden administration and federal agencies for millions of dollars to recover those alleged costs. So far, no other states have joined this newly filed lawsuit.
“We’ve got to do what’s best for the American people, the American taxpayer, and shut down the border, send illegal immigrants back home,” Walters said. “And the best way for us to do that right now is to work with the Trump administration, get them the information they need.”
